Electric iron



sept. 2, 1924.;

- J. sLoMAR ET AL y I ELECTRIC IRON Filed April 1 1, 1922 Patented Sept. 2, 1924.

UNITED STATES JOHN SLOMIAR AND EVERETT SCHRADER, OF ST. FRANCIS, WISCONSIN.

ELECTRIC IRON.

Application led April l1, 1922. Serial No. 551,551.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that we, JOHN SLOMAR and Evnnn'rr SCHRADER, both citizens of the United States, and residents of St. Francis,

in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Irons; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

This-invention pertains to improvements in electric irons and has primarily for its object the provision of means, manually operable upon gripping the handle, for closing the heating circuit, thereby preventing the iron from becoming accidentally overheated.

An additional object is to provide means for automatically locking the circuit controlling means in its closed position, when the iron is set in a vertical position, said locking means being normally inoperative when the iron is in a horizontal position.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, vthe invention consists in what is herein shown and described, and more particularly pointed out and defined by the appended claims, it being understood that vari'ous modifications of the structural details Y are contemplated, as within the terms of the ap ended claims. v

In t e drawings f- Figure l is an elevational view of an electric iron constructed in accordance with the present invention, with parts broken away and insection to more clearly illustrate the same.

Figure 2 is a transverse, sectional view ta'ken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view of the- 40 electric Wiring.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawing, the numeral `1 designates a conventional type of electric iron provided with a pair of vertical arms 2 adapted to carry the handle 3, which is preferably formed from insulating material. The handle 3 is provided with a recess 4, within which are secured a pair of brushes 5 connected to a pair of wires 6, forming art of the heating circuit. Carried by the liandle 3, and preferably secured to the under side of the same, is, a yieldable strip 7 extending longitudinally of the handle and provided Withan insulation block 8 to which is attached a contact member 9 adapted to engage the brushes 5 and close the heating circuit when the strip 7 is depressed.

Thus it will be seen that the heating circuit is under manual control of the person operating the iron, the circuit being closed by gripping the handle as the iron is in use. Upon releasing the handle, the yieldable strip 7 will cause the contact member 9 to be disengaged from the brushes, thereby breaking the heating circuit and preventing accidental overheating of the iron through neglect.

As illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawing, the iron is provided with a rest 10, whereby the same may be placed in a vertical position when the iron is not in use, and in this position it is obvious that overheating of the iron cannot result in any damage, as possible danger of fire is eliminated.

For the purpose of initially heating the iron to the desired temperature, we propose to provide an arrangement whereby the manually operable circuit control may be locked in its closed position when the iron is in its vertical position. This is accomplished by the provision of a gravity controlled'dog 11 positioned adjacent one end of the yieldable strip 7 and extending through a slot 7 formed in one end of the strip. The dog 11 is ivoted within a pair of ears 12 formed at t e side of one of the arms 2 and the same is so weighted that in the operative position of the iron the dog will not engage the strip 7, .but as the iron is placed in a vertical position and the strip 7 epressed, the dog 11 will automatically lockthe strip in this position, thereby maintaining a closed heating circuit.

From the foregoing it will be understood that, while we have shown and described one specific embodiment of the present invention, various modications and structural details are contemplated as within the terms of the appended claims.

We claim 1. A switch for controlling the circuit of an electric iron having a handle, said switch comprising a movable bar adapted to be attached to said handle and having a projecting portion lyingadjacent said handle and adapted to be grasped by the operator when thev operator holds the handle, an electric switch controlled by isaid bar, said bar y being biased to switch open position, and a gravity controlled dog normally inactive when the handle is in horizontal position and adapted to lock said bar in switch closed position when the iron is approximately Vertical.

2. A switch for controlling the circuit of an electric iron, said switch comprising a resilient bar adapted to be attached to the handle 'of said iron and having a rigidly attached projecting portion, a pair of spring contacts adapted to be positioned Within the handle and to receive said projection between them, a normally inoperative dog adapted to latch said resilient bar and hold said projection in contact with said spring contacts when the handle of the iron is sub- 15 stantially vertical, and conductors leading from said contacts.

In testimony that we claim thel foregoing We have hereunto set our hands at St. Francis, in the county of Milwaukee and 20 State of Wisconsin.

JOHN SLOMAR. EVERETT SCHRADER. 

